Romare Bearden US, 1911-1988
Storyville: A New Tune, ca. 1975
Mixed media collage
6 x 9 ins
15.2 x 22.9 cm
15.2 x 22.9 cm
Copyright The Estate of the Artist
“Storyville was the official red-light district of New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century, and its houses of prostitution often featured live music. Although Bearden had never been...
“Storyville was the official red-light district of New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century, and its houses of prostitution often featured live music. Although Bearden had never been to New Orleans when he made this print, the image of a half-dressed prostitute and a piano player in an adjoining room, may have been inspired by E. J. Bellocq’s photographs, Storyville Portraits, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art a few years earlier (1970). Bearden had a copy of the museum catalogue in his library.
